Written By kom nampultig on Sabtu, 08 November 2014 | 07.20

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned Rs 20 lakh for legally defending the state fishermen facing death sentence in Sri Lanka for peddling narcotics. The money would be used for legal expenses when the five appeal against their sentence in the higher court, said an official release.

The fishermen were sentenced to death in a narcotics case by the Colombo high court on October 30 and they have appealed against the verdict. In a statement, the government said the funds would be used by the fishermen to pay the legal team which is being put together by the Indian embassy in the island nation.

This is the fifth time the government is sanctioning funds for the fishermen and their families. Earlier, when J Jayalalithaa was the chief minister, the government had sanctioned twice towards legal expenses and twice for meeting the personal expenses of the families in Rameswaram.

Soon after their arrest in 2011, the government sanctioned Rs 2 lakh towards legal expenses on December 14, 2011 and again on February 8, 2013, Rs 3 lakh was sanctioned for defending the fishermen.

In between these two dates, the govenrment also sanctioned Rs 250 per month to the five families on August 6, 2012 and Rs 2 lakh per family on December 13, 2012 for the families to meet incidental expenses, said the statement.

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